The Cringe

Hiding In Plain Sight

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Listening toThe Cringe makes me do exactly that: cringe. After going through approximately 10 seconds of “Rushing Through The World,” I was ready to turn it off. The guitar tricks you into thinking it will be an awesome rock jam, but then the chorus kicks in. The annoying and repetitive, “rushing through the world” chorus completely kills the song. The Velvet Revolver feel in the beginning was so promising, but the song is a flop. Repetitiveness seems to be a thing with this band. The next song, “Finally Gonna Be On Your Own” basically consists of that one line, repeated over and over.

“Deep Girl” is slightly creepy. It sounds as if singer John Cusimano says, “I want a piece of your flavorful pie/ I like the way it tastes so strong.” Take that as you wish. Onto the next song, “One Horse Town.” The mix of country and rock doesn’t really work here. The vocals sound like a Bon Jovi rip off, and the lyrics are just plain mediocre.

All of a sudden, it feels like they’ve converted into a Christian band. “Gimme Resurrection” and “Lord Jim” are all a little too religious for my taste. The weird part is, “Gimme Resurrection” sounds like a bad 311 song with cheesy keys. Unfortunately, the outdated keyboard continued into “Get Me Some.”

When the lyrics are being repeated over and over again, you’d think you were listening to a Nickelback song, but you’d be wrong. The Cringe’s “Blame It All On Me” does just that. The strange organ opening in “String You Along So Long,” is a tad strange. The echoing “ahhhhh” soon after is so out of place, as the song literally bursts into heavier rock.

This band seems confused as to what their sound should be, and the album clearly demonstrates that. Failure to find their own unique niche is where they go wrong on this album. Nobody likes a repetitive record. Every song had the same structure, accompanied by unimpressive content.